Pocket lighter



' Nv. 1s, 1955 H. P. BELLAVANCE POCKET LIGHTER Filed Sept. 5, 1953 JMWmlfw ATTORNEYS United States Patent() POCKET LIGHTER Harold P.Bellavance, Attleboro, Mass., assignor to United Findings Co. Inc., acorporation of Massachusetts Application September 3, 1953, Serial No.378,217

1 Claim. t (Cl. 677.1)

This invention relates to a pocket lighter of the type in which manualpressure upon an actuator will lift a wick cap and at the same timethrow a spark to ignite the wick.

Heretofore in a lighter ofthe above type a spring has been utilized forreturning the wick cap to a position covering the wick and return theother parts to initial position. With the spring under tension, assemblyof these parts becomes somewhat difficult and disassembly for repairssimilarly dicult should the spring become fatigued or break.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a unit carrying aspring which may be more easily inserted into position for operation ofthe actuator and wick cap.

Another object of the invention is to provide a spring which will haveone of its ends move the parts which it actuates without actuallyhooking on to that part.

Another object of the invention is to provide an assembly in which thespring will be in relaxed position until tenisoned by fastening the unitin position on the top wall of the lighter.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certainnovel features of construction as will be more fully described andparticularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is an elevation partly in section of a pocket lighter equippedwith my invention;

Figure 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section similar to Figure 1 but on a larger scale andshowing the finger piece depressed to lift the snuier cap from the wick,which action also ignites the wick;

Figure 4 is an exploded view of the assembly for the arm or link andspring which is utilized for moving the parts in one direction;

Figure 5 is a view of a modiled form of the assembly.

In proceeding with this invention, I provide a carrier plate upon whichan arm is pivotally mounted, which arm serves as a link to engage thefinger piece of the lighter and lift the same to initial position butwill permit the iinger piece to be depressed and the arm or link swungabout its pivot to increase the tension on the spring which encirclesthe pivot so as to return the iinger piece to its initial position whenthe pressure thereon is released. This carrier may be attached to thetop wall of the lighter by inserting one of its ends beneath a lipraised from the top Wall of the lighter and attaching the other end bymeans of a screw through the wall of the lighter, and as this attachmentoccurs, one leg of the spring, extending from a coil about the pin,which before assembly is relaxed, will engage the top wall of thelighter and place the spring under tension, while the other leg willengage the arm or link pivoted on the carrier so as to swing the arm orlink about the pivot in the desired direction. This second leg will movewith reference to the link, and it may slide along the link to assumesuch relative position thereto as occasion may require. By thisarrangement the spring is relaxed until the carriage is assembled and2,723,547 `Patented Nov. 15, 195,5

then is placed under tension. No stop need be provided for the link, itbeing merely necessary to swing this link backwardly until the manualactuator of the lighter may be moved to have a cross pin engage therecesses of the With reference to the drawings, 10 designates a casingwhich forms Va fuel compartment 11 for containing fuel for ignition of awick 12 which extends through a boss 13v mounted on the top wall 14 ofthe casing. The igniting .mechanism for this wick is designatedgenerally 15 and comprises generally 'a snuifer cap 16 and a fingerpiece 17 pivoted as at 18 and which may be swung about this pivot tocause lifting of the snutfer cap and at the same time rotation of afriction wheel (not shown) to throw a spark against the wick 12 toignite the same.

This invention has to do primarily with the mechanism for returning thisnger piece 17 to raised position, such as shown in Figure l. It has beenfound advantageous to provide an assembly which may be positioned afterthe finger piece, snulfer cap, and other parts are assembled on thelighter. This unit assembly comprises a carrier designated generally 20(Figure 4) which has a base plate 21 with ears 22 extending at rightangles thereto, the plate being cut away as at 23 between the ears,leaving a bridging portion 24 at one end between the ears and a portion25 at the other end beyond the ears, in which portion 25 there is anopening 26 for fastening the carrier in position on the top wall 14 ofthe casing. A pivot pin 27 extends through the openings 28 in the ears22 and pivotally mounts the arm or link 29 (Figure 2) in position.

This link 29 is formed of sheet stock providing a body portion 30 withsides 31 extending at right angles thereto. Openings 32 are formed atone end of the sides 31 which receive the pivot pin 27 to pivotallymount the arm or link 29 on the carrier 20. Fingers 33 are cut from thesides 31 and are bent inwardly into substantially contacting relation soas t-o provide an encircling space between them and the body portion 30of the link. Recesses 34 are also provided in the side walls 31 whichengage a pin 34 extending between the sides 35 of the linger piece 17.

A spring 36 is formed as a helical with its center portion extendingradially as a leg 37 doubled upon itself, while its opposite ends 38also extend radially from the coil as legs at an angle to the leg 37substantially as shown in Figure 2. The coil of this spring 36 encirclesthe pin 27. The ends or legs 38 extend through the opening 23 in thecarrier 20, while the loop leg 37 extends between the sides 31 so as tobe slidable in the space beneath the fingers 33.

In Figure 5 I have shown a little different form of spring in that herethe coil 40 has one leg 41 extending through the opening 23 in the base24, while the other leg 42 extends beneath a single finger 43 which isbent inwardly from one side only of the arm or link 44, this link or armbeing otherwise the same as that described in greater detail anddesignated 29 above.

Carrier 20 with the spring and arm assembled thereon is positioned onthe top wall of the casing and slid to a position so that the bridgingportion 24 extends beneath a raised overhanging arm 45 which may besecured to the top of the lighter. With this portion 24 slid under thisoverhanging portion 45, the other end of the carrier will have itsopening 26 register with an opening 46 in the top wall of the casing andwith an opening 47 in the threaded well 48 below the casing so as toreceive a screw 49 to hold the outer end of the carrier in position. Asthe carrier is secured, the legs 38 of the spring will engage the topwall 14 of the casing and provide a portion against which it willthereafter act, while the arm or link 29 may then be swung to tensionthe spring and locate the pin 34' of the finger piece inthe notch 34 ofthe arm, which at the same* time holds the spring in tension, and thearm when so located Will lift the iinger piece from the position shownin Figure 3 to that in Figure 1. The loop end 37 of the spring may slidein its space beneath the fingers 33 on the inside of the body of the armas this movement occurs. Regardless of whether the form shown in Figure4 or the form shown in Figure 5 is used, the assembly will be the same.

I claim:

The method of assembling a pocket lighter which comprises subassemblingon the top Wall of a fuel tank a pivoted snul'fer cap and a iingermember for actuating the snuler cap, sub-assembling a separate unitcomprising a carrier having a bottom wall with a hole therein, a

link pivoted thereon and a spring about the pivot with one end engagingthe link and the other end extending through said hole, and positioningthe second subassembly between said top wall and linger member to causethe link to engage said nger member, and to cause said spring end whichextends through said opening to engage the top wall and be moved totension the spring as the second sub-assembly is moved into position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

